The present invention relates to additives used in abrasive blasting, and more particularly to wood-based additives for fluid-based blasting systems.
Wood-based materials are used in a variety of industrial processes because the materials are environmentally safe and are available at low cost, typically sourced from chips and other leftovers from lumber manufacturing. Because of these advantages, finding additional applications for wood-based materials is highly desirable.
Abrasive blasting is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure, typically used to remove surface corrosion or contaminants. A pressurized fluid (often air) is used to propel the blasting media (typically sand particles, beads, nutshells, etc.) toward the surface to be cleaned. Several types of blasting exist, including wet abrasive blasting, sand blasting, and bead blasting. In wet blasting, the media is introduced into a pressurized stream of water or other liquid. Sand blasting is possibly the most commonly known abrasive blasting technique, as sand used to be the most commonly used media introduced into the pressurized air system. Bead blasting, as can be guessed by its name, employs fine glass beads and is typically used in auto body work, as sand blasting tends to invite rust formation under painted surfaces. These types of applications, however, can cause damage to the surface, as sand, beads, and other types of existing blast media can cause divots in the surface as they propel toward the surface at high speeds.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of existing abrasive blasting technology, solves the problems identified with respect to the existing blast media, and presents certain advantages over the existing technology as set forth below.